You may be eligible to make a hotel accident claim for compensation if you were injured or made ill due to the operators/owners of the hotel’s negligence.

Whether you stay in a hotel for a business trip, on holiday or when visiting relatives, you’d expect a good night’s sleep, a pleasant stay and maybe a nice meal too. You certainly wouldn’t expect to end up getting injured during your stay though. Unfortunately, accidents do happen and sometimes it’s because of the negligence of the hotel operator.

In our hotel accident claims guide we’ll look at some of the incidents you could claim compensation for including slips, trips and falls, food poisoning, and injuries caused by damaged furniture, to name a few. We’ll also explain the claims process in more detail, and you’ll be able to make use of our compensation calculator further down the page for a variety of different injuries and their payout amounts.

You could benefit from the support of our experienced personal injury solicitors if your hotel accident claim is accepted. Our team have been handling various types of compensation claims for many years. Importantly, any case they take on is managed on a No Win No Fee basis so you won’t have to pay for your solicitor’s work unless you are awarded compensation.

After you have read this guide, please call our team on 0800 6524 881 if you have any questions about the hotel accident claims process or starting a claim today.

Am I Eligible To Make A Hotel Accident Compensation Claim?

If you are a hotel guest, visitor, or employee, you might want to make a hotel accident claim for compensation for any injuries sustained while in the hotel or on its grounds. To be eligible to file a claim, it will be necessary to demonstrate that:

• The hotel’s owner/operator owed you a duty of care; and
• The hotel operator was negligent in their health and safety liabilities and that resulted in an accident at the hotel; and
• You were made ill or sustained an injury following the accident.

If you’d like us to check your eligibility to make a hotel accident compensation claim, please contact us today.

Common Causes Of Hotel Accident Claims

There are various scenarios that could make you eligible for hotel compensation if you suffer an injury or are made ill whilst staying in a hotel. Here are some examples:

• Slips, trips or falls resulting from negligence. For example, you may be able to claim if a porter leaves luggage right behind you’re injured from a trip and fall.
• Injuries caused by damaged furniture. In this case, you might be able to claim, for example, if an old chair collapsed and you hurt yourself during a fall.
• Burns or scalds. An example here might be where waiting staff overload a tray and end up spilling scalding hot drinks on you.
• Food poisoning. If you are made ill from food poisoning because food has been handled, stored, prepared, or cooked incorrectly, you might be eligible to make a claim.
• Gym accidents. You could also be entitled to claim if you are injured in a gym because of poorly maintained, faulty or damaged fitness equipment.
• Unattended swimming pools. A swimming pool is one of the most accident-prone areas in any hotel. Guests can injure themselves if they slip on wet slippery surfaces around the poolside. In the worst possible scenario, a guest might drown in the pool.
• Theft & assault. Criminals know that a hotel’s guests can be easy targets. The smallest security lapse is often enough for them to relieve guests of their valuables and other personal belongings, leaving them injured and traumatised. If a guest is hurt in an assault by an employee, the hotel may be held liable on grounds of negligent security for failing to conduct a thorough background check on the employee.
• Food allergy. If you suffered an allergic reaction due to a food allergy in a restaurant at the hotel, a bar, or another service, you may be eligible to claim.

There are many different scenarios that are not listed here that could also result in a hotel accident claim. We are here to help if you decide to claim and will review your case for free. If we believe you have a reasonable chance of success, we could appoint a personal injury solicitor who’ll represent you on a No Win No Fee basis.

How Much Compensation For A Hotel Accident/Illness Could I Claim?

Due to the unique nature of each hotel accident/illness claim, it’s not really possible (without all of the details) to calculate how much compensation you might be paid if your claim is successful. However, once a specialist advisor from our team has considered your case during your no-obligation review, we should be able to tell you how much hotel compensation you could claim for. The individual elements that could form part of your claim include:

• Compensation for any injuries. This includes the pain, suffering and loss of amenity you suffered.
• Any costs, expenses or financial losses caused by the accident. This may include medical costs, travel expenses, lost income and care costs.
• A payment to cover the cost of replacing (or repairing) personal property that was damaged in the accident.

How much compensation you’ll claim for your pain and suffering will be dependent on the seriousness of your injuries. Therefore, we can arrange for you to visit a local medical specialist for an independent medical review.

To learn how much your claim might be worth, please feel free to contact one of our specialists today.

Hotel Injury Compensation Calculator

We shall now take a look at what compensation for some common injuries could be worth following an accident in a hotel. We can do this by referencing the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The calculator below includes data based on the JCG as these are the figures solicitors and lawyers will refer to when calculating compensation amounts. Again, these figures form just one part of your claim so please remember to call to find out what else you could include.

As there is a long list of different injuries possible following a hotel accident, we haven’t listed them all here. It’s also worth noting that you should not rely on these figures as, even if your case is won, there is no guarantee about how much compensation will be awarded.

To learn if your case is suitable for our No Win No Fee claims service, please do get in touch today.

Evidence To Support A Compensation Claim Against A Hotel

Irrespective of how you were injured in a hotel, there are some steps you should take to obtain evidence that could help if you decide to seek damages from the hotel. They include:

• Reporting the incident to the hotel reception and asking for a copy of the accident report.
• If you had an accident or suffered illness in a hotel while on holiday you should report it to your holiday representative. You may also find it beneficial to refer to our holiday accident claims page.
• Photographing the scene of the accident before the root cause is removed if possible.
• Asking for the contact details of anybody who witnessed the hotel accident take place.
• Requesting copies of any CCTV footage that captured the accident.
• Seeking treatment for your injuries. This should not just be first aid. You can use medical records from an A&E, doctor’s surgery, or minor injuries unit to support your hotel accident claim.
• Document any costs or expenses you incur because of your injuries.

These steps could go a long way to supporting any subsequent hotel compensation claim. For example, if you have a copy of an accident report signed by hotel staff, it is very difficult for them to deny the accident took place.

If you would like us to consider the evidence you’ve already obtained, simply call our free advice line today.

Time Limits For Claiming Hotel Injury Compensation

Hotel accident claims, as with all personal injury claims, have strict time limits that you must adhere to. Mostly, this will be 3 years from the date the accident took place.

If your child is injured in a hotel accident, it’s possible that you or another responsible adult (litigation friend) could make a claim on their behalf. As a litigation friend, you’ll carry out tasks on behalf of the child and deal with solicitors for them. There is essentially no time limit for personal injury claims involving children up until they turn 18. If you don’t claim hotel compensation for them, when the child becomes an adult, they’ll have 3-years to claim themselves.

Our general advice is to begin the hotel accident claims process as soon as you can. By doing so, you’ll probably be able to recall what happened more easily and in more detail. You’ll also help your solicitor by giving them plenty of time to gather any evidence required to support your claim.

To find out when your time limit expires, please call our team today.

Do I Need A Solicitor To Make A Hotel Accident Claim?

No, you do not. However, while it is possible to make a hotel accident claim without a solicitor, we’d recommended seeking the assistance of a qualified personal injury solicitor on our team. Hotel accident claims can be complex and challenging to navigate, particularly when it comes to proving liability and determining the appropriate amount of compensation to claim.

A personal injury solicitor can provide you with guidance and support throughout the claims process, help you gather evidence, assess the strength of your claim, and negotiate with insurance companies to get you a fair settlement.

Furthermore, ours work on a No Win No Fee basis, meaning that you will only need to pay legal fees if your claim is successful. This reduces the financial risk and provides you with peace of mind.

Overall, while it is not a legal requirement to use a solicitor for hotel accident claims, doing so, in our opinion, can significantly increase your chances of success and ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve.

Starting The Hotel Accident Claim Process

People don’t often realise that a personal injury claim against a hotel will generally be dealt with by insurance companies. In this instance, the hotel will pass all of the information about the claim to their insurer and let them deal with it. The problem here is that insurers will typically try to pay as little compensation as possible to keep their company profitable. Therefore, as alluded to above, you’ll need to present a strong case that proves clearly how your hotel accident occurred, why the hotel was liable, and the extent of the injuries you sustained. We believe this is much easier if you let a personal injury solicitor handle the hotel accident claims process for you.

If your case is taken on, we’ll provide a solicitor to help you. They will provide regular updates for you and will deal with everything on your behalf. If a compensation offer is received, they will check that it is fair and discuss it with you. Should the offer undervalue the severity of your injuries, they’ll go back to the hotel’s insurance company and try to negotiate a fairer settlement for you.

We’re ready to start your claim when you’re ready to begin. Call us today on 0800 6524 881 and we’ll start the hotel accident claims process right away.